1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for video data file creation and a recording medium for the same, and more particularly to a method and apparatus, for video data file creation, wherein the video data file creation apparatus, incorporating a computer equipped with a graphical user interface, creates a video data file in accordance with user-selected action items or by predicting user action or even analyzing source data, and a recording medium for use with the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a computer system, when a user operates an application on a computer such as a personal computer and the display screen changes correspondingly, to keep a record of the events, it has been practiced to create a data file as source data by saving data representing the part of the application used within the screen data, and to create a video data file by converting the data file into screen data for reproduction by using a conversion program included in the application.
For example, to reference a data file Y edited using a word processing program from Company A and to display the result of the reference on a terminal 10 of a computer system P, as shown in FIG. 1A, if an application X, which is the word processing program from Company A, is already installed on the terminal 10, the result of the reference based on the data file Y can be reproduced for viewing by using the application X. That is, the data file Y can be displayed in a format that the user can recognize. Usually, an application Xn has a one-to-one correspondence with a data file Yn.
However, as shown in FIG. 1B, in a computer system Q where the application X is not installed, even if a word processing program W from Company B is installed there, the data file Y cannot be viewed on its terminal 20, etc. This is true not only of word processing but also of other data processing.
Further, in a conventional video file creation system, it has also been practiced to photograph a monitor screen by a user using a camera, but this has required the user""s action to focus the camera on the monitor screen and capture the video, that is, the user has had to operate the hardware when creating a video data file.
Accordingly, to make the data file Y viewable on the computer terminal, the application X capable of displaying the data file Y for viewing has had to be installed on the computer system. However, installing an application on a computer system in general involves the following problems.
1. Installing an application requires a certain amount of storage space on a storage device in the computer system.
2. When the application X is installed for a test purpose, it has to be uninstalled after finishing the test.
3. Installation may affect the computer system and may introduce some changes to the system environment.
4. Since installation requires a certain amount of time, the user cannot quickly reference a data file he wises to reference; the user can reference the desired data file only after installing the application.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a video data file creation apparatus that converts a data file Y created by an application X into video data in accordance with user-selected edit instruction items or by predicting user action or analyzing the content of the data file Y, and that creates an executable file of an EXE (EXECUTION) format incorporating an application for the reproduction of the video data so that the data file Y can be viewed on a computer system where the application X is not installed.
With such a predefined and simple set of operations, a video data file viewable on any computer system can be created.
According to the present invention, there is provided a video data file creation apparatus incorporating a computer equipped with a user interface, comprising video data creation means for editing display data shown on a display into a designated format, and for creating an executable video data file by appending display producing means to the edited display data, wherein the video data creation means edits, in accordance a user-specified edit instruction item, a video data file obtained by processing a data file to be displayed, and creates the executable video data file by appending the display producing means to the edited video data file.
The user-specified edit instruction item is given in the form of a menu item. Further, the video data creation means is incorporated as part of an application by which said data file to be displayed is created.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a video data file creation apparatus incorporating a computer equipped with a user interface, comprising video data editing means for editing display data shown on a display into a designated format, wherein the video data editing means predicts user action to be performed on a video data file obtained by processing a data file to be displayed, and edits the video data file in accordance with the predicted user action.
The apparatus further comprises display producing means for converting the edited video data file into an executable video data file. The predicted user action includes, for example, scrolling a text display screen area.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a video data file creation apparatus incorporating a computer equipped with a user interface, comprising video data editing means for editing display data shown on a display into a designated format, wherein the video data editing means analyzes the content of a data file to be displayed and, based on the result of the analysis, edits the data file in accordance with a user-specified edit instruction item.
The apparatus further comprises display producing means for converting the edited video data file into an executable video data file. The video data editing means is provided as a stand-alone application. Further, the data file to be displayed is dragged to the video data editing means.
The present invention also provides the following methods.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for creating a video data file for viewing on a computer, comprising: creating a corresponding video data file from a data file to be displayed, by using a processing program for the data file; editing the video data file in accordance with a user-specified edit instruction item; and creating an executable video data file by appending display producing means to the edited video data file.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method for creating a video data file for viewing on a computer, comprising: creating a corresponding video data file from a data file to be displayed, by using a processing program for the data file; and predicting user action to be performed on the video data file, and editing the video data file in accordance with the predicted user action. To accomplish this, the method also includes converting the edited video data file into an executable video data file.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method for creating a video data file for viewing on a computer, comprising: creating a corresponding video data file by analyzing the content of a data file to be displayed; and editing, based on the result of the analysis, the video data file in accordance with a user-specified edit instruction item. To accomplish this, the method also includes converting said edited video data file into an executable video data file.
The present invention further provides the following recording media.
According to the present invention, there is provided a recording medium for recording a computer-readable program for implementing the functions of: processing a data file to be displayed and creating a corresponding video data file therefrom; editing the created video data file in accordance with a user-specified edit instruction item; and creating an executable video data file by appending display producing means to the edited video data file.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a recording medium for recording a computer-readable program for implementing the functions of: processing a data file to be displayed and creating a corresponding video data file therefrom; and predicting user action to be performed on the created video data file, and editing the video data file in accordance with the predicted user action. To accomplish this, the program also includes the function of converting the edited video data file into an executable video data file.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a recording medium for recording a computer-readable program for implementing the functions of: processing a data file to be displayed and creating a corresponding video data file therefrom; creating a video data file by using the corresponding processing function obtained by analyzing the content of the data file to be displayed; and editing, based on the result of the analysis, the video data file in accordance with a user-specified edit instruction item. To accomplish this, the program also includes the function of converting the edited video data file into an executable video data file.